1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to haircutting instruments and methods of using the same primarily in barbershops and beauty salons.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known to use a straight blade in cutting and thinning hair. In the past this has been accomplished by placing an instrument with a blade on one side of a lock of hair and the user""s finger on the opposite side of the lock of hair. The user thus pinches or clamps the lock of hair between the blade and his or her finger. This is a tedious operation and requires great skill to prevent cutting one""s finger with the blade. The user must take care to avoid being cut while maintaining the proper amount of pressure and the proper angle of the blade with respect to the individual hairs in the lock of hair.
This procedure of pinching or clamping a lock of hair between the finger and a blade has the advantage of slicing the individual hairs at an acute angle which provides a softer feel at the hair ends and also inhibits the problem of the hair breaking. Another benefit of cutting the hair ends in this way is that it causes each individual hairs to lie more nicely within the lock of hair.
It can be seen that there is a need in the art for a device and a method that assures the safety of the user and provides a consistency in the angle of cut. There is a further need to provide an instrument and a method for cutting hair with a straight blade that is easy to use. Still further, there is a need to provide the above stated needs with an instrument that has easily replaceable tools including blades.
The instant invention overcomes these deficiencies with an instrument that is easy to use, safe, and provides consistency in the angle of the cut.
The instrument is comprised of two pieces or members that are coupled by a hinge having an axis. Each piece has an arm and a leg that are substantially parallel to each other and the axis of the hinge. The arm has grip portions and the leg has sockets for receiving tools. This allows the user to actuate the legs by manipulating the grip portions of the arms.
In use, the leg portions are separated by manipulating the grip portions. A lock of hair is placed between the tools that are positioned in sockets of the legs. The legs are then clamped onto the lock of hair by a gripping action and the instrument is pulled or pushed in a direction along the length of the lock of hair. This pulling or pushing action cuts individual hairs of the lock in the progressive manner as the instrument is moved away from the person""s head.
The legs have jaws that are substantially parallel to each other. The jaws in a fully clamped position are spaced apart to enable a lock of hair to slide between them. The jaws of the legs have sockets which receive tools. The tools comprise at least one cutting blade which can be a razor blade, a knife or a thinning tool. Tools also may include one back guard. Thus, the hair is clamped between two blades or a blade and a back guard so that when the instrument is pulled or pushed in a direction away from the person""s head, the hairs of a lock of hair clamped between the jaws are pinched by the tools and progressively cut as the instrument is moved away from the person""s head. The edges of the tools that engage the lock of hair are parallel to each other so that the lock of hair receives even pressure along the length of the tools.
In one aspect of the invention, the arms and legs of each member of the instrument are spaced radially with respect to the axis of the hinge. In another aspect the arms and legs are generally parallel to the axis of the hinge. Expressed another way, each arm and each leg extends along a line parallel to the hinge axis. With this construction, the arms and legs remain generally parallel to each other and to the hinge axis during the hinging action.
The tools may be two razor blades which meet in a parallel fashion at their distal edges. Alternatively, the tools may be two thinning blades which have teeth. These teeth meet each other similarly to the two blades. However, with the thinning blades there are spaces between the teeth through which individual hairs may pass as the instrument is pulled or pushed away from the person""s head. Thus, only some of the hairs are cut. Another alternative is to have one razor blade in the socket of one of the legs, and a back guard in the socket of the other leg. In this way the back guard and the razor blade meet in a pinching manner on the lock of hair. In practice, any combination of tools may be used in the instrument as long as one of the tools comprises a blade.
In another aspect of the invention, the instrument may be constructed such that the arms of the instrument are spaced at any preferred distance of comfort to the user. This spacing may be provided by the structure of the arms adjacent to the hinge wherein the arms abut each other and thereby space the finger loops from each other at a comfortable distance. Alternatively, stops may be provided at any location on the arms to mutually abut each other and provide the desired spacing.
As with a regular pair of scissors, the grip portion of the present invention may be provided by finger loops that lie generally in a common plane. However, it is contemplated that the grip portions may be angled to that regular plane by plus or minus 70 degrees about the hinge axis. The selection of these angles can be especially important because of the different manner in which this instrument is used as compared with regular scissors. That is, the forces required when pulling or pushing the instrument along the lock of hair are different from the forces required when using a regular pair of scissors. The forces required with the instant invention, in turn, affect the gripping requirements. Because of the gripping requirements of the instant invention, having finger loop angles different from those of regular scissor finger loops is desirable in at least some cases.
In use, a lock of hair may be placed between the tools in the instrument legs and the legs may be clamped onto the lock of a hair with light pressure. Depending on the angle of the tools, little or no pressure may be required to continue the cutting action along the length of the lock of hair, cutting the hair is effected by pushing or pulling the instrument away from the person""s head. The user may selectively apply more pressure to cut the individual hairs more rapidly or completely sever a lock of hair. Also a user may grasp the lock of hair between the instrument and the person""s head to minimize pulling on the hair at the scalp during the use of the instrument.